This is my day job, my previous day job was a sales oriented background.
I'm also working on the Valhalla contest. Really excited about my entry. Does anyone know where I could find an example of a 'pitch'? Or does anyone have one handy that they've submitted (successfully or not) that I could look over? I've found some video game pitches online but I doubt it's the same thing. Not really sure where to start.
Thanks!
Contributor; Developer, Super Genius Games
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The info is for me, actually--didn't realize I had the hubby's account open at the time I posted. I'm considering giving up the long day job commute to publish and freelance full time, but I was looking for some folks who are actually doing it to talk to for various perspectives.
Owen, mind if I drop you a line one day?
Feel free!
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I'm curious as to how many of the 3PPs are actually doing this as their day job? I know Rite Publishing and Owen are. Anyone else out there?
I am a full time game designer and third party publisher. And by full time, I mean I work a modest sixty to eighty hours a week writing/designing/editing/publishing/networking/agonizing over RPGs.
Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games
I'm curious as to how many of the 3PPs are actually doing this as their day job? I know Rite Publishing and Owen are. Anyone else out there?
I am a full time game designer and third party publisher. And by full time, I mean I work a modest sixty to eighty hours a week writing/designing/editing/publishing/networking/agonizing over RPGs.
Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games
It definitely shows in the quality of your work though :) Know it is appreciated.
I am a full time game designer and third party publisher. And by full time, I mean I work a modest sixty to eighty hours a week writing/designing/editing/publishing/networking/agonizing over RPGs.
Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games
Hi, Gary. We met at PaizoCon 2012. I'd love to talk to you about the business, as well, if you are willing. Let me know.
It definitely shows in the quality of your work though :) Know it is appreciated.
Thanks for the kind words. It is exactly feedback like this that makes it all worthwhile.
Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games
Hi, Gary. We met at PaizoCon 2012. I'd love to talk to you about the business, as well, if you are willing. Let me know.
I'd be happy to. Send me any details to gary|at|firemountaingames|dot|com.
Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games
Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games
Thanks, Gary. I'll be in contact!
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Indeed this is a great community for Third Party Publishers. TPK started publishing about a year ago and through advice and great feedback blossomed from an aspiration into a real entity. After getting great assistance from many of the bigger names in the industry, I'm now turning around and helping my peers fulfill their projects.
I have a day job that I enjoy fairly well, but this is such a great creative outlet. The best advice I could give is:
1) Before you ever attempt to release your own products, work for someone else in the industry. Freelance and get a taste of what it's like on a couple of products.
2) See number one, then be prepared to take feedback. Be flexible in your style and design. Not everyone will be 100% into what you think is solid gold.
3) See number two, but also don't allow one person's opinion sour your attitude toward your endeavors.
4) Put down that Xbox controller. Yeah, if you really want to produce (who hasn't thought about it?), you will work much harder than even a freelancer (and that's saying a lot considering how hard many of the excellent freelancers work). You had better be prepared to commit to publishing otherwise it will show that you don't -- or worse, you will never even get your feet off the ground.
-Brian "Necroblivion" Berg
co-founder and CEO of TPK Games
Website, Facebook, Twitter, G+
Put down that Xbox controller. Yeah, if you really want to produce (who hasn't thought about it?), you will work much harder than even a freelancer (and that's saying a lot considering how hard many of the excellent freelancers work). You had better be prepared to commit to publishing otherwise it will show that you don't -- or worse, you will never even get your feet off the ground.
Well, I never played console games, so Xbox is not an issue, however, I've stopped watching television altogether to insure I have the time and focus to get the work done - really, I haven't watched any TV for about 3 years now just so I cannot be disrupted for design, development and cartography.
Well, since I was asked to give updates by an earlier poster, here it is.
I was contacted by a very kind publisher who took a look at my work and gave me some very valuable feedback. After this publisher displayed extraordinary patience and gave me several rounds of feedback, I realized I was falling again into the original trap I was in when I started this thread, trying for too much at the outset.
So with that in mind I have shelved the project that the publisher in question was helping me with, and am going to start with, as advised, an adventure.
Just to be clear I am not mentioning the name of the specific publisher due to the fact that I have not asked for nor received permission to speak about them, so am trying to err on the side of respect and caution, not in anyway trying to obfuscate anything.
I would like to thank the publisher in question, as well as all of you in this thread.
Now, look out for my adventure!
Coming Soon...
P.S. For anyone following this thread, that is a first timer like me, I would recommend entering both RPG superstar 2013, and Valhalla Calling. You may not win or even place, however if you try your best you will improve and most likely you will receive some very valuable feedback. In addition you never know, and you cannot win if you do not try.
Was about to enter the RPG Superstar, but I think i am excluded as i have stuff published - Ah well look forward to seeing to seeing some of the entry's anyway
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Was about to enter the RPG Superstar, but I think i am excluded as i have stuff published - Ah well look forward to seeing to seeing some of the entry's anyway
Generally speaking, so long as it was not a Paizo product or a hardback in which you were the principal author, you are good to go. Having your name in a softback RPG book has never been a disqualification in the past. (though I have yet to read this years rules)
I'll be honest, the whole split on hardback/softback books strikes me as kind of odd. I've seen small print runs from indie publishers that were hardback before (admittedly, it was part of an imprint under a much larger publisher).
Sometimes it's an additional $5 - $10 difference in price between softcover and hardcover (note: some of this cost is increased delivery charge by size and weight). Many customers don't want to pay for that difference, so a hardcover for a small publisher is harder to sell. Less sales equals less successful product. Why would a publisher want a less successful product?
In our Kaidan Kickstarter, we made hardcovers available at a higher contribution, and we did get patrons at that level, but statistically much less than the majority of contributors. If hardcovers were that much preferable, I'd have expected more $100+ patrons, and that was not the case.
I understand the difference in price, and the corresponding difference in sales; I was referring to (what sounded like) a policy for Paizo's RPG Superstar, where you weren't eligible if you were the author (or any contributor) to a hardcover RPG book, but not for a softcover.
Ah, sorry, misunderstood your post. And Paizo's rules is if your name is on a hardcover - not a contributor to a hardcover. Consider that my name is on an AP as a secondary (gazetteer) author, yet I can still participate in RPG Superstar, despite that - and I plan to.
Do you have credit on a hardcover publication? Do you work full time as a game designer?
No to both?
Then I think you are still eligible to enter RPGS ...
On the first point, not really, but i just started work full time as a game designer/publisher..i think that is what i meant to put
Do you have credit on a hardcover publication? Do you work full time as a game designer?
No to both?
Then I think you are still eligible to enter RPGS ...
Yes, I confirmed this last year and checked the rules language this year. I have many credits, and until Antagonists comes out in January, I'm still eligible to compete this year. (Unfortunately, I don't think I have the time to do so.)
-Ben.
Thanks, Gary. I'll be in contact!
Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games
Gary, I did send an email, but have not heard back from you.
Gary, I did send an email, but have not heard back from you.
I must apologize for being pokey. Between the holidays, family matters, a kickstarter, freelancing and Book VI I have been beyond swamped and I let this slip through the cracks.
But fear not, I remain only too happy to help. I've sent you an email with details about having a chat about this.
Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games
Sorry if I shouldn't have asked that here but I have a question about third party publishing :O (and I thought it was maybe a good idea to put all the questions in the same thread)
Can I use content from an adventure path from Paizo which is not Golarion-specific ? (to be more precise, I'm thinking of the various gods from the Dark Tapestry, described in Carrion Crown)
Example : if I wanted to write an adventure set in a personal setting but where Azathoth appears, could I use the portfolio, domains, subdomains, etc as they are ? (just an example)
Thanks by advance.
P.S. : English is a foreign language (I'm French) and, as much as I try, I fear there are still mistakes, I hope you'll forgive them.
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Sorry if I shouldn't have asked that here but I have a question about third party publishing :O (and I thought it was maybe a good idea to put all the questions in the same thread)
Can I use content from an adventure path from Paizo which is not Golarion-specific ? (to be more precise, I'm thinking of the various gods from the Dark Tapestry, described in Carrion Crown)
Example : if I wanted to write an adventure set in a personal setting but where Azathoth appears, could I use the portfolio, domains, subdomains, etc as they are ? (just an example)
Thanks by advance.P.S. : English is a foreign language (I'm French) and, as much as I try, I fear there are still mistakes, I hope you'll forgive them.
You can use anything that is open content. Generally speaking, open content is going to include monster stat blocks, domains, etc., but is not going to include specific names of deities or religions.
Lovecraftian entities occupy a special niche and Paizo tends to give a shout-out to Chaosium, who normally publishes the mythos stuff, when they use it. I would suspect opinions on how to play in this particular field are going to vary from publisher to publisher and you should talk to whomever you are interested in working with before doing any writing to see what their thoughts are. Most of the ones that do 3pp PFRPG are, I suspect, going to want to avoid it, though Super Genius Games sometimes puts out Cthulhu modules.
Isn't lovecraft in the public domain now?
For those who don't already know, we're hosting an adventure writing contest called PATHMASTER on Adventureaweek.com.
You can find out the nitty gritty details after the jump, but here's a bit to whet your appetite:
What is Pathmaster?
Pathmaster is an adventure design contest open to Game Masters and Adventure Designers! If you have an idea for a Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Adventure that you’d love to design and see published by Adventure-A-Week, write and submit a 400-word pitch for a 32-page adventure.
Who is allowed to enter?
Anyone can enter! We strongly encourage unpublished game masters with creative minds to dive in and give this contest a shot.
You may base your adventure in the AaW Campaign Setting if you wish, but it is not required.
Five Finalists
A group of industry professionals (including top Paizo reviewers ENDZEITGEIST and KTFISH7) will choose five finalists from these submissions to write a 32 page adventure to be published in PDF format by Adventureaweek.com, LLP. Finalists will be financially compensated, and receive a free 3-month subscription to Adventureaweek.com.
Special Assignment
Two of the five finalists will be chosen to assist Jonathan G. Nelson and Stephen Yeardley with sections of the RISE OF THE DROW mega-adventure due for release in 2014! RISE OF THE DROW is slated to be 550-750 pages, hardbound, with world-wide distribution. Writing credits will be awarded to these two finalists and listed within this massive tome. More details forthcoming as we near the end of the contest.
Grand Prize Winner
The adventure scoring the best reviews on DTRPG and Paizo.com will be declared grand prize winner and will be hired to write a 6 part adventure path published in PDF and PRINT by Adventureaweek.com. In addition, the grand prize winner will also receive a free one year subscription to Adventureaweek.com, a limited edition village of Rybalka print autographed by AaW founders Todd Gamble and Jonathan Nelson, as well as a print copy of “BASIC1: A Learning Time” autographed by author Kevin Mickelson (Mask of Death).
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I freaking love this thread.
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Yeah
Excellent discussion, input and advice....must have missed it first time round!
Isn't lovecraft in the public domain now?
Yes and No.
Techdirt has the best article explaining the Maddness HERE!
Discovering if ANYTHING is in the public domain is a journey you need to undertake. If you ever want a challenge, try definitively determining if Zorro & Sherlock Holmes are public domain (and what parts of them).
This thread is so helpful.
So I see a lot of really specific jobs but who would be the best to contact with something larger like a fully written self-contained new system or would one recommend trying to start it yourself at that point?
Depends on the type of project. If you don't want to go into publishing it yourself, then look for a Publisher that matches what you do.
If you have a fantasy horror idea for a class book, don't go to someone focusing on Sci-Fi Comedy. Basically, you'll have a better chance of getting accepted if you try with something they already work on (and have success with).
Secondly, do NOT send them the full thing, at least not to begin with. They are unlikely to read the whole thing to start with, and just like Paizo, they do not want to run into any issue with rights for the contents.
Ask them politely first if they could be interested, and send them a short pitch for what it is (500 words or less), and see what they say. If they're interested, they'll let you know from there. :)
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Thanks good to know!
I guess at this point its figuring out who the best people to contact would be. I have a few in mind already that I have purchased from in the past and really like there products so I figure starting there is a good Idea.
That sounds like a solid idea. :)
Most publishers have a "Contact us" option somewhere on their website, so have a look. :)
Sorry for the grave dig but with the arrival of Pathfinder 2, is publishing stuff for PF1 going to go through any changes?
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I don't believe anything was changed about PF1 publishing in like the "legal" sense (though paradigm-wise it kinda has).
Sorry for the grave dig but with the arrival of Pathfinder 2, is publishing stuff for PF1 going to go through any changes?Everything you could do before can still be done.
Thanks. I always had ideas on the backburner but never got around to actually seeing them past the idea/homebrew stage.
But now I might actually try to put the work into seeing them become something more but wasn't sure if Paizo was going to say.., ramp down on third party publishing.